MARYwhatnow?

Katrantzou…Katrantzou…Katrantzou: say that 5 times fast and one of Mary’s digitized styles may just appear before you. And if not in your closet, at least on the frames of one of your favorite fashion(able) editors or style icons.

Such is the case right now, as the Athens-born designer is having a MOMENT with her techy, dizzingly cool graphic printed dresses. Structural, architectural, with hyper-real images splashed across: Katranzou’s designs have that great balance of decadence and classic stylings. I also appreciate how daring and inconvenient they are: they are investment pieces that you whip out in rare, singular moments.

Moreover, I am fascinated with how each style is distinctly stylized depending on the woman donning the sheath. It’s not simply a straightforward approach with these otherwise directional styles. As Julia Sarr-Jamois, Leelee Sobeiski, and Alexa Chung show, the patterns and pieces certainly speak for themselves but can afford a personal twist. A cotton striped teed paired with a patterned pencil skirt, booties with a jutting peplum, a pair of fuzzy sandals, or simply rumbled hair will do.

It’s the new way of imagining luxury in a digitized era, quite literally. Katrantzou’s designs and our gravitation towards them seem to suggest that we’re still wanting to take risks; there is still room for groundbreaking designs in fashion from even younger talent. Fashion isn’t the lost art we all claim it to be. It’s transportive, nostalgic, and revolutionary. In fact, these designs are such an incredibly optimistic (and stylish) wave of the future.